Wall construction



Oct. 13, 1970 P. PESTEL ETAL WALL CONSTRUCTION Filed July 29, 1968 3,533,205 WALL CONSTRUCTION Paul Pestel, Anaheim, and Albert L. Lankford, Lakewood, Calif., assiguors to The Flintkote Company, White Plains, N.Y.

Filed July 29, 1968, Ser. No. 748,486 Int. Cl. E04b 2/30, 2/58; E04c 3/08 US. Cl. 52-356 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates generally to wall structures and components of such structure, and it relates more particularly to wall structures utilizing laminated wallboard panels, and to wall studs and clips to hold such panels in place.

In the general type of wall construction to which this invention pertains, conventional laminated wall panels made of two or more layers of gypsum wall board glued together are secured to metal support studs. Secondary supports or runners usually are employed to provide a base for the studs and to provide bracing and further support for the wall structure.

Channel-shaped metal studs have come into wide-spread use in walls to which the present invention pertains because of the ease and relative economy with which these studs can be manufactured. Such studs commonly have been used in wall constructions in which the wall panels are fastened directly to the studs by means of nails or screws. The usual operation of nailing or screwing wall panels to such prior art studs is undesirable because it is time-consuming, and for the further reason that the nail or screw heads must be covered with tape, spackling and the like to make the wall surfaces smooth.

To avoid the necessity of using nails and screws to se cure wall panels to studs, various nailless and screwless wall structures have been devised. These nailless and screwless wall structures typically employ specially shaped studs, either with or without cooperating clip elements, to hold the wall panel units in place. The special shapes of such studs often make them expensive to manufacture.

In keeping with the foregoing, a general object of the present invention is to provide an improved wall construction, which overcomes the limitations of the prior art structures by providing an economical, simplified, nailless and screwless wall construction, one which makes use of conventional channel-shaped studs which can be produced in quantity at relatively low cost.

In accordance with this invention, the foregoing objects are attained by use of a special mounting clip which cooperates with a standard channel-shape stud and laminated wall panel units to achieve the desired wall construction.

Further objects, advantages, and details of this invention will become evident from the following description of the preferred embodiment, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 2 is a broken-away, cross-sectional perspective wall utilizing the construction of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a broken-away, cross-sectional perspective view of a portion of the wall construction shown in FIG. 1;

States Patent ice FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional plan view of the wall construction shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the clip employed in the Wall construction of this invention; and

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a modified clip to be used in another embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 1 illustrates a wall structure constructed in accordance with this invention. The wall structure 10 includes upper and lower channel-shaped supports or runners 12 and 14 which are secured, respectively, to the floor and ceiling of a room. Conventional metal channelshaped wall studs 18 are fitted into the runners 12 and 14 at spaced distances from one another, and laminated wall panels 16 are fastened to the wall studs by means of metal clips 20'.

FIGS. 2 and 3 show in detail the arrangement of the wall panels, the studs, and the clips. Each of the wall panels 16 is formed of two gypsum sheets which are glued together face-to-face. Referring to FIG. 2, for example, gypsum sheets 22 and 24 are laminated together to form a panel 16 on one side of the wall structure 10, and similar sheets 26 and 28 are laminated together to form another panel 16 on the other side of the wall. As is shown in FIG. 3, other sheets such as sheets 30 and 3 2, and sheets 34 and 36 are laminated into further panels 16 which are engaged edge-to-edge with the first-named panels. The panels are laminated in offset relationship to one another so that the edge of each panel is step-shaped. A continuous succession of laminated two-ply wallboard panels 16 is secured to the wall studs 18 by means of the clips 20 to to form the wall structure 10 shown in FIG. 1.

Each of the wall studs 18 has a web portion 38 and side flanges 40 and 42. The web portion 38 of the studs 18 contains an opening 44 which, in this particular case, is a utility opening through which electrical, or other wires or tubing, can pass. The use of such an opening is described more fully in US. Pat. No. 3,341,997, which is assigned to the same assignee as is this application.

FIG. 4 shows one of the chips 20 used to hold the laminated wallboard panels 16 to the wall studs 18 of the wall structure 10 of the invention. The clip 20 has a channel-shaped center section including a web portion 46 and side flanges 48 and 50. Extending from the end of each of the flanges 48 and 50 are L-shaped extensions having portions 52 which are substantially perpendicular to the flanges 48 and 50, and further portions 54 which are substantially parallel to the flanges 4-8 and 50. The clip 20 has an integral fastener member or tab 55 formed by cutting the clip along the lines 56 and 58 (shown in FIGS. 2 and 4) and by bending the tab section so formed inwardly towards the flange portions 52. As seen in FIGS. 4 and 5, clip 10 fits snugly around the stud 18 and is supported thereon by the tab 55, which is fitted over the lower edge of the utility hole 44, and also by the grip of the clip flanges 48 and 50 upon the studs 18.

As can best be seen in FIGS. 2 and 3, the portions 54 of the chips 20 extend into the joints and between indi vidual wall sheets in the wall panels .16 to hold the panels securely in place. The channel-shaped center sections of the chips 20 conform to and fit around the channel-shaped wall studs 18. The individual sheets of the wall panels 16 are wedged apart slightly by the flange portions 54 of the clips 20 which are fitted between the laminations. The overlapping edges of the wallboard panels and the clips act together to hold the panels 16 securely in place on the wall studs 18. The gypsum sheets forming the wall panels 16 preferably have beveled edges 57.

The wall 10 is constructed by first securing the upper and lower runners 12 and 14 to the floor and ceiling, respectively, of a room in which the wall is to be constructed. Studs 18 are secured in runners 12 and 14 at intervals equal to the width of the wall panels 16. Two panels 16 then are aligned on opposite sides of the studs, each extending between adjacent studs, and then the panels are clipped into place by inserting the outer flange portions 54 of the clips 20 between the laminations of the panel edges, and pushing the tab 55 down onto the lower edge of the utility hole 44. After the first two wall panels are secured in place, two more panels are positioned so that their edges abutt the edges of the first set of wall panels. The abutting edges of the panels of the second set are held in place by the overlapping edges of the panels already in place. The opposite edges of the panels of the second set then are clipped to the next wall stud in the same manner as were the edges of the first two wall panels. This process is repeated until an entire wall is constructed.

Often it is desirable to use the clipping technique herein described to construct one side of a wall completely before constructing the other side. To enable such a construction to be made easily, a half-clip 60, shown in FIG. 5, is used instead of the clip 20 to secure panels to the wall studs. Half-clip 60 is identical to a whole clip 20, except that the clip 20 has been cut in half along the vertical center line of its web 46 to form the halfclip 60, and in that the half-clip 60 has a screw hole 62 in the web 46. One side of a wall is formed by use of the half-clips 60 in the same way as the whole clips 20, except that each clip is fastened in place by means of a screw which is driven through the hole 62 and into the web of the wall stud 18. The other half of the wall may be formed similarly by the use of half clips which are mirror images of the clips 60.

Both the clips and the studs may be made of any suitable material. The clips and studs described herein are advantageously manufactured from relative thingauge rolled sheet steel. Furthermore, although use of laminated wall panels has been described, any type wall panels having a step and adapted to accept a flange portion of the clips described herein can be used. Also, the holes in the studs need not be utility holes. Any opening in the studs shaped to receive the tabs of the clips will be sufficient, and, in fact, any means of securing the clips to the studs is contemplated for use in this invention.

It should be understood, of course, that the foregoing disclosure relates only to preferred embodiments of the invention and that numerous modifications or alterations may be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

.1. A wall construction comprising, in combination, a plurality of laminated wall panels having mating vertically extending edges, a plurality of generally channelshaped vertical stud members each having a web portion and side flanges, and means securing said panels to said studs in edge-to-edge alignment, said means including a plurality of clip members each having a web section, at least one side section, and an oflset flange extending from said side section, said web section and said side section conforming respectively to the web portion and to a portion of the side flanges of said studs and being in contact therewith, fastening means connecting said clip members to said web portions, said offset flange being generally L-shaped, having a first portion lying in a generally vertically extending plane and being substantially perpendicular to said side section and a second vertically extending portion substantially parallel to said side section, said substantially perpendicular portion of said flange extending into the vertical joint between the edges of adjacent wall panels and said substantially parallel portion of said flange extending between the laminations of said wall panels.

2. A wall construction as described in claim 1, wherein each of said vertical studs has an aperture and said fastening means is a tab which fits over an edge formed by said aperture.

3. A wall construction as described in claim 2 wherein said apertures are utility openings formed in the web portion of said studs and said tab is formed in the web section of said clip.

4. A wall construction comprising, in combination, a plurality of laminated wall panels having mating beveled edges, a plurality of generally channel-shaped vertical opening therein and side flanges, and means securing said stud members each having a web portion with a utility panels to said studs in edge-to-edge alignment, said means including a plurality of clip members each having a web section with a tab fastener means cooperating with an edge of said utility opening for securing said clips to said studs and side sections having oflset flanges extending therefrom, said web sections and said side sections of said clips conforming respectively to the web portions and to a portion of the side flanges of said studs and being substantially contiguous therewith said offset flanges being generally L-shaped, having a first portion substantially perpendicular to said side sections and a second portion substantially parallel to said side sections, said substantially perpendicular portion of said flanges extending into the joint between adjacent wall panels and said substantially parallel portion of said flanges extending between the laminations of said wall panels.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,073,829 9/1913 Wieland et al. 52-363 2,056,328 10/1936 Price 52-362 2,283,167 5/1942 Burson 52-361 1,277,513 9/1918 Widmer 52-356 2,089,942 8/1937 Barson 52-489 2,851,740 9/1958 Baker 52-489 2,907,199 10/1959 Johnson 52-359 2,909,821 10/1959 Olsen 52-359 3,232,018 2/1966 MacKean 52-360 3,429,090 2/ 1969 Metelnick 52-489 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,407,093 1965 France.

HENRY C. SUTHERLAND, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R.

Patent No. 3,533, 5 Dated October 3; 97

Inventor) Paul Pestel and Albert L. Lankford It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Column 1, line 68: delete "Figure 2 is a broken away, cross-sectional perspective" and substitute--Figure l is a perspective, partially broken away view of a--.

Column 2, line 39: delete "chips" and substitute-clips--.

Column 2, line 59: delete "chips" and substitute-clips--.

Column 2, line 61: delete "chips" and substitute--clips--.

Column I, lines 23 and 2 (Claim lines 3 and I) delete "opening therein and side flanges, and means securing said stud members each having a web portion with a utility" and substitute--stud members each having a web portion with a utility opening therein and side flanges, and means securing said--.

LMZJED IND SEALED JAN 5 1971 rs Attest:

Edward M. Member, Ir.

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